Pak Beng

At the end of the day, around 4:30 pm, we arrived at the slightly bigger and better-equipped village (only speaking from comparison to the previous one), Pak Beng.

There we were TukTuked to our respective accommodation for the night.

It was only a 3-minute drive over a road that was yearning for some collagen supplements.

I was given a key to my room by a grumpy receptionist who wanted to see my booking confirmation. I kept telling him that I booked via a company that arranges the whole 2-day Mekong tour.

I showed him my booking confirmation for the company, but he was not satisfied with that.

While I had the key, I was told to come downstairs for check-in. He left.

I was entirely confused, because I thought that with the reception of a key, you had effectively checked in.

Nevertheless, I walked downstairs and saw that I just had to put down my personal details. No problem there.

But then the talk about my booking recommenced.

He wanted a bank receipt. I showed him my receipt to the tour company – since this is all I had and since they allocated me to a hotel.

At this point, the conversation got heated, rude, and pushy. He was adamant that he didn’t care about some company and that I pay him now, in cash, for the room.

A few loud words were exchanged.

I contacted my booking company via WhatsApp and they impressed on me not to pay anything and that my tour guide would contact them.

This indeed happened swiftly; I witnessed the phone call.

I expected to be addressed then by the receptionist. But no. He kept looking elsewhere, though I’m pretty sure he must have known I was still around, seeing as I was standing in front of him.

The company texted me back that the situation should be resolved now.

Hm. So I addressed him and asked him if there was a solution available now.

Suddenly he smiled and said, oh, why didn’t I tell him I booked through the company; I should have said so. At which I laughed. I did tell him exactly that, several times.

He initially insisted I didn’t and turned slightly more apologetic bit by bit.

From then on, he was very kind. 😁

I went out for dinner (some pumpkin soup with coconut (delicious!) and a Laos curry with buffalo meat (also delicious!).

Back at the accommodation at past 9 pm, I was headed for bed. I had previously inspected it and it seemed to be fine.

A second inspection followed, just to be sure. Good thing I did. Bug number one seemed to be just that – a small bug – if you trust AI. But critters number 2 and 3 were unmistakably fleas, hopping around.

I vacated the room swiftly and luckily saw the receptionist, who gave me a different room.

This room’s bed only featured a spider and a silverfish, which I banished promptly.

I chose to accept the geckos and ants for the night.

Another 2 hours later, some men walked past my room and tried to open the door. Since I had locked it, that didn’t happen, though they did try.

I barred the door with a chair and wedged it under the doorknob.

Feeling anything but safe, I decided to try and sleep when I suddenly sniffed cigarette smoke. It was like someone was smoking in my room.

It turned out that the AC was circulating the smoke of whoever was smoking. Who does that close to midnight?

It took ages for the smoke to dissipate. I was anything but happy.Read more